Case file · Folklore / legend
Rebmann's snow on Kilimanjaro
On 11 May 1848 the missionary Johannes Rebmann became the first European to report the snow on Kilimanjaro; Chagga guides told him the white cap was silver guarded by spirits, and London geographers called his report a fantasy.
1848 CE · -3.08, 37.35 · status: official
The account
Rebmann's guides said the 'silver' turned to water when brought down and that men sent to fetch it had died of cold. William Desborough Cooley insisted it was impossible for snow to lie so near the equator. The snow was confirmed by Karl Klaus von der Decken in 1861, and Hans Meyer reached the summit in 1889.
The sceptical view
A documented case of experts dismissing a true observation.